Netgate (PfSense) appliances

DrJohnZoidberg

DrJohnZoidberg

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Anyone know where I can get a hold of Netgate appliance hardware locally (this stuff: https://www.pfsense.org/products/)?

They list a few authorized local distributors on their website but only one of them looks like a company I would actually do business with (I mean wtf is this: http://www.imartoffices.com <- who would do business with a company that has a website like that???!!! Wtf is that even!?)

This is the one legit place that I found: https://getred.co.za/product-category/networking/ - they only list the smaller appliance, I'm looking for the SG-2440. I emailed them asking but would like to know if anyone has had success sourcing these elsewhere?

TIA
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
Anyone know where I can get a hold of Netgate appliance hardware locally (this stuff: https://www.pfsense.org/products/)?

They list a few authorized local distributors on their website but only one of them looks like a company I would actually do business with (I mean wtf is this: http://www.imartoffices.com <- who would do business with a company that has a website like that???!!! Wtf is that even!?)

This is the one legit place that I found: https://getred.co.za/product-category/networking/ - they only list the smaller appliance, I'm looking for the SG-2440. I emailed them asking but would like to know if anyone has had success sourcing these elsewhere?

TIA
Click to expand...

Any reason you don't want to build you own?
 
jsheed_sa said:
Any reason you don't want to build you own?
Click to expand...

I already have my own mini-itx pfsense box but it's too big. I've been looking to rebuild a smaller one but by the time I've calculated the cost of all the components I may as well get an officially supported appliance device.

Pros:

1. Smaller than I can build it.
2. More power efficient.
3. 4+ ports.
4. Highest compatibility between components and software.


Cons:

1. Cannot find them anywhere.
2. Relatively expensive.

I found a guy on Ebay auctioning off 2 even better models (used) than the one I initially wanted so going to start there.
 
Hi Doc,

If you don’t get sorted, I’ve imported a even smaller version than what I used in the past 5 years.
7ef591873d87096fb1c8dc408dab0247.jpg

(What I used till this year)

This on is a Nano ITX, even have a sim slot on main board, just need to buy module to make pfSense LTE failover.

6d8a4f3591c693dceea3fa1f980c8972.jpg

(Case nearly look like this)

But this is the mainboard:
c3381e749b92d0f73afd776aaae10d9f.jpg

7492f9cb09697761be23da858e8297a4.jpg
 
If you want to DIY it for much less than the $749 by Netgate (and get the same hardware).

Shopping list:
Supermicro Mini ITX A1SRI-2558F-O - $239.99
Kingston Technology 4GB 1600MHz DDR3L - $29.79 * 2 = $59.58
Molex to SATA to use motherboard power - $1
SATA to mSATA - $13.04
Silicon Power 32GB Industrial mSATA - $34.99
Mini-ITX case - $16.37
12v 5A power power brick (universal) - $9.49

All the Amazon stuff ships to South Africa
Same for the two items from Ali Express & the items below for eBay.
I bought that combo some time back (I have different mini-itx case which isn't sold anymore).

The case I bought had a DC barrel to 4 pin ATX, since this doesn't you would need to DIY a bit:
Panel mount 12v DC jack - $1.63
Molex to 4 pin ATX - $1.28
 
Last edited:
Arthur said:
Have been tempted by the same Nano ITX on Alibaba, for $132. Still, the HP Microserver just chugs away 24/7, year in year out. Just a case of gadgetosis wanting something smaller and less power-hungry.
Click to expand...

HP Microserver is on special at Esquire thus weekend -- under 3 grand. Even though the processor does not support AES-NI instructions, this will hardly affect VPN performance, as it is more applicable if you want to do drive encryption.
 
I decided to bite the bullet and just get one of these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Quad-Core-f...hash=item3f86e21523:m:myt6-3Nye0tdQvg9xIjvVKQ

Works out cheaper than building a similar mini-itx system plus it uses less power and is just overall less hassle. The unit price worked out @ R3350 and the shipping and import duties were R1025, wish shipping wasn't so much but it's less hassle and worry knowing it's priority shipping and they handle the import duties also like the Amazon Global Shipping option.

My current box is on the way out and is constantly freezing up. I'll update this thread once I get the unit and let you guys know what it's like.
 
DrJohnZoidberg said:
I decided to bite the bullet and just get one of these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Quad-Core-f...hash=item3f86e21523:m:myt6-3Nye0tdQvg9xIjvVKQ

Works out cheaper than building a similar mini-itx system plus it uses less power and is just overall less hassle. The unit price worked out @ R3350 and the shipping and import duties were R1025, wish shipping wasn't so much but it's less hassle and worry knowing it's priority shipping and they handle the import duties also like the Amazon Global Shipping option.

My current box is on the way out and is constantly freezing up. I'll update this thread once I get the unit and let you guys know what it's like.
Click to expand...

Interesting, nice box, looking forward to the update.
Also noticed that there are many similar options on Aliexpress for considerably less $, any reason why you chose eBay?
 
DMNknight said:
Any reason for not looking at the very reasonably priced Ubiquiti Edge Router series of devices?

https://www.ubnt.com/edgemax/edgerouter-x/

Been running this with 100Mb Fibre and no issues.
Click to expand...

Not badly priced, but I prefer the flexibility of industry standard hardware, open-source OS and services. It provides a blank canvas for far more security services, and easily be redeployed as something completely different tomorrow.
 
infscrtyrisk said:
Interesting, nice box, looking forward to the update.
Also noticed that there are many similar options on Aliexpress for considerably less $, any reason why you chose eBay?
Click to expand...

I've never bought stuff off Ali before, so didn't even bother looking there. I see I could have got the same unit quite a bit cheaper off there but the shipping is an unknown for me with them though, with the eBay shipper I'm more confident it'll get here in a timely fashion and they handle the import duties too so I don't have to hassle with customs.

Still less money though than I would have spent building my own system.
 
DMNknight said:
Any reason for not looking at the very reasonably priced Ubiquiti Edge Router series of devices?

https://www.ubnt.com/edgemax/edgerouter-x/

Been running this with 100Mb Fibre and no issues.
Click to expand...

I looked at them but the it's just not as flexible. It doesn't support OpenVPN at all either which is a pretty big issue for me. The cheaper model also only has a throughput of around 250Mbps. So if I decide to ever upgrade to faster fibre that one wouldn't be an option so I'd have to spend more on the higher end model at which point I may as well just have gone for the open platform.
 
Two things I don't like about the Intel Celeron J1900 is lack of IPMI and more importantly ECC memory support.
Really like it otherwise. Enclosure is better than the option with the SuperMicro C2558.

Also very important call out in that eBay listing:
"Please be aware that competing devices use the cheap Realtek network chips which are nowhere near as stable, reliable or performant as Intel."

My advice, never, ever use anything but Intel NICs on FreeBSD.

Many years earlier I tried getting Realtek NICs to work well, they just don't have decent drivers.
If it isn't an Intel NIC, you can expect low performance and on some of the flaky Realtek chips, disconnect issues.
 
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